*Ø* Blogmanac November 23 | St Clement and the god Wayland
Feast day of St Clement (Pope Clement I, or Clement of Rome)
St Clement, the fourth pope of the Roman Catholic Church, the first of the successors of the Apostle St Peter about whom anything definite is known, and the first of the ‘Apostolic Fathers’, is the patron saint of tanners, as, by tradition, he was one himself. His symbol is an anchor, as he was thrown into the sea tied to an anchor. He is also patron of boatmen, marble workers, mariners, sailors, sick children, stonecutters and watermen.
He is mentioned by St Paul in Philippians, iv, 3. After Clement, or Old Clem as he was known to English blacksmiths, was martyred, two of his disciples prayed to find his remains: the sea retreated for 3 miles, and they could walk to where an angel-built chapel was, with St Clement's remains in a chest of stone, by the anchor. Every year the sea did so, on St Clement's day and remained dry for seven days.
Children in pre-Reformation England went in procession on this day, and at night, adults went out to beg a drink. Hence this day was marked with a pot on old ‘clog almanacs'.
St Clement is also patron of blacksmiths. The November 22 Almanac looked at St Clement’s Eve activities amongst that trade. At the annual blacksmiths’ feast held at Burwash, Sussex, St Clement was said to stand protectively above the tavern door.
Old Clem and Wayland the Smith
St Clement’s day marks the first day of Winter in the Julian (OS) calendar. According to Pennick (Pennick, Nigel, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, p. 129), as patron of blacksmiths and metalworkers, Clement is an aspect of the Saxon and Norse godling Wayland the Smith, Völundr, the smith of the gods, who was the son of the giant sailor Wate and of a mermaid. Swords made by Wayland are regular properties of medieval romance. King Rhydderich gave one to Merlin – King Arthur’s famous sword Excalibur. Rimenhild made a similar gift to Child Horn.
In the Dietrich cycle of sagas, Völundr’s brother Egill was compelled to prove his skill as an archer by shooting an apple off the head of his three-year-old son; he is thus the prototype of William Tell.
The earliest known record of the Wayland legend is the representation in carved ivory on a casket made by Northumbrian craftsmen not later than the beginning of the 8th century. English local tradition has it that Wayland Smith’s forge is in a cave close to the famous White Horse of Uffington, Berkshire, UK. If a horse that needs to be shod, or any broken tool were left with sixpence at the entrance of the cave the repairs would quickly be done.
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Feast day of St Clement (Pope Clement I, or Clement of Rome)
St Clement, the fourth pope of the Roman Catholic Church, the first of the successors of the Apostle St Peter about whom anything definite is known, and the first of the ‘Apostolic Fathers’, is the patron saint of tanners, as, by tradition, he was one himself. His symbol is an anchor, as he was thrown into the sea tied to an anchor. He is also patron of boatmen, marble workers, mariners, sailors, sick children, stonecutters and watermen.
He is mentioned by St Paul in Philippians, iv, 3. After Clement, or Old Clem as he was known to English blacksmiths, was martyred, two of his disciples prayed to find his remains: the sea retreated for 3 miles, and they could walk to where an angel-built chapel was, with St Clement's remains in a chest of stone, by the anchor. Every year the sea did so, on St Clement's day and remained dry for seven days.
Children in pre-Reformation England went in procession on this day, and at night, adults went out to beg a drink. Hence this day was marked with a pot on old ‘clog almanacs'.
St Clement is also patron of blacksmiths. The November 22 Almanac looked at St Clement’s Eve activities amongst that trade. At the annual blacksmiths’ feast held at Burwash, Sussex, St Clement was said to stand protectively above the tavern door.
Old Clem and Wayland the Smith
St Clement’s day marks the first day of Winter in the Julian (OS) calendar. According to Pennick (Pennick, Nigel, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, p. 129), as patron of blacksmiths and metalworkers, Clement is an aspect of the Saxon and Norse godling Wayland the Smith, Völundr, the smith of the gods, who was the son of the giant sailor Wate and of a mermaid. Swords made by Wayland are regular properties of medieval romance. King Rhydderich gave one to Merlin – King Arthur’s famous sword Excalibur. Rimenhild made a similar gift to Child Horn.
In the Dietrich cycle of sagas, Völundr’s brother Egill was compelled to prove his skill as an archer by shooting an apple off the head of his three-year-old son; he is thus the prototype of William Tell.
The earliest known record of the Wayland legend is the representation in carved ivory on a casket made by Northumbrian craftsmen not later than the beginning of the 8th century. English local tradition has it that Wayland Smith’s forge is in a cave close to the famous White Horse of Uffington, Berkshire, UK. If a horse that needs to be shod, or any broken tool were left with sixpence at the entrance of the cave the repairs would quickly be done.
Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
Receive similar items free each day with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine. Send a blank email
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